How American History Erases Mass Killings Against Native Americans

When the media speaks of a mass killing in the United States as being the worst in our history but forget about other historical mass killings is a part to erase Native American genocide.

Ever since Columbus reached the indigenous people of the Caribbean in 1492, an era of colonization and exploitation of the indigenous inhabitants for economic purposes.

 Contained in the journals of Columbus’ and his men are atrocities far beyond the comprehension of humans. These so-called civilized people chopped up the bodies of Natives people and fed them to their hunting dogs, Kidnapped and sold pre-teen girls in the sex trade, enslavement and seeing if one could slice through a Native with one stroke.

In the Island nations that Columbus conquered it is estimated that 3-5 million Indigenous people had disappeared due to illness and the brutality of their tactics.

Later, the campaign against Native people proceeded and spread throughout the western hemisphere. The resulting slaughter led by the so-called civilized Europeans was in the number of 100 million. In North America alone, it is estimated the 20-50 million people were lost in the brutal campaigns of Europeans in the Americas.

The erasure of Native American genocide from the Classrooms and popular culture serves to erase the distasteful memory for the collective mind space. If you can make people forget, it’s as if you’re absolved of the crime. Post any mass shooting in the United States it is common to read headlines such as “Worst Shooting in US History”. The worst mass shooting takes place against a forgotten people and using that language serves to perpetuate American forgetfulness of its history.

Below is a small list of some of the worst mass killing in Northern America:1539 Napituca Massacre:

1541-42 Tiguex Massacres: 250 killed

1599 Acoma Massacre: 800 killed

 1601 Sandia Mountains Tompiro Indians massacre: 900 killed

1623 Pamunkey Peace Talks: the English poison wine at peace talks with Powhatan 250 killed

1637 Mystic Massacre: colonist set fire to Pequot village 600-700 killed

1644 Pound Ridge Massacre: Lenape village burned by colonist 500 killed

1675 Great Swamp Massacre: Narragansett village attacked 340 killed

1676 Massacre at Occoneechee Island: Nathaniel Bacon turns on Occaneechi allies 100 killed

1676 Turner Falls Massacre: Indian fishing camp 100 killed

1676 Rhode Island: militia attacks band of Narragansetts 126 killed

1689 Zia Pueblo: Governor of New Mexico orders attack on Pueblos 600 killed

1704 Apalachee Massacre: Former Governor of
Florida orders attack on Apalachee 1,000 killed 2,000 enslaved

1712 Massacre at Fort Narhantes: North Carolina Militia attacks Tuscarora village 300 killed

1712 Fox Indian Massacre: French Troops attack Fox Indian village 1,000 killed

1713 Fort Neoheroka: Militia attacks Tuscarora village 1,100-1,200 killed

1730 Massacre at Fox Fort: French Troops attack Fox Indian village 500 killed

1747 Chama River Massacre: Spanish Troops attack Ute village 100 killed

1774 Spanish Peaks: Spanish Troops attack Comanche village 300 killed

1782 Gnadenhutten Massacre: Pennsylvania militiamen attack Lenape village 100 killed

1805 Canyon del Muerto: Spanish Troops attack Navajo village 115 killed

1813 Tallushstchee: Tennessee Troops Attack Creek Town 200 killed

1813 Autossee Massacre: Georgia militia sets fire to Creek village 200 killed

1813 Hillabee Massacre: Tennessee Troops attack Creek village 65 killed

1818 Chehaw Massacre: US Troops attack Muscogee village 50 killed

1826 Dressing Creek Massacre: Texas settlers attack Karankawa village 50 killed

1832 Bad Axe Massacre: US soldiers attack Indian village 150 killed

1840 Council House Massacre: Attack against Comanche 88 killed

1840 Colorado River: Volunteer Rangers attack Comanche village 140 killed

1840 Clear Lake Massacre: Mexican Posse attacks Pomo and Wappo village 150 killed

1846 Sacramento River: US soldiers attack Yana village 200 killed

1847 Storming of Pueblo de Taos: US soldiers attack Pueblo de Taos 180 killed

1850 Bloody Island Massacre: US soldiers attack Pomo village 100 killed

1851 Old Shasta Town: Miners set fire to Wintu village 300 killed

1852 Hynes Bay Massacre: Texas militiamen attack Karankawa village 45 killed

1852 Bridge Gulch Massacre: California posse attacks Wintu village 150 killed

1852 Wright Massacre: White settlers attack a Modoc peace party 40 killed

1853 Howonquet Massacre: California settler’s attack and burn Howonquet village 70 killed

1853 Yontoket Massacre: Posse of California settlers attack Tolowa prayer ceremony 450 killed

1853 Archuleta Massacre: White settlers attack Tolowa village 150 killed

1854 Chetco River Massacre: White settlers attack Chetco village 40 killed

1855 Harney Massacre: US soldiers attack Sioux village 90 killed

1856 Grande Ronde River Valley Massacre: Washington volunteers attack Cayuse and Walla Walla village 60 killed

1858-1859 Round Valley Massacres: White settlers wage continuous attacks on Yuki villages 600 killed

1859 Pit River Massacre: White settlers attack Achomawi village 70 killed

1860 Massacre at Bloody Rock: White settlers attack Yuki village 65 killed

1860 Indian Island Massacre: White settlers attack Wiyot villages 250 killed

1861 Horse Canyon Massacre: White settlers attack Wailaki village 240 killed

1862 Tonkawa Massacre: Union soldiers attack Tonkawa village 400 killed

1863 Bear River Massacre: US soldiers attack Shoshone village 280 killed

1864 Oak Run Massacre: White settlers attack Yana’s at spiritual ceremony 300 killed

1864 Sand Creek Massacre: Colorado militia attacks Cheyenne village 160 killed

1865 Owens Lake Massacre: White vigilantes attack Paiute village 40 killed
1868 Washita Massacre: US soldiers attack Cheyenne village 140 killed

1870 Marias Massacre: US soldiers attack Piegan village 173 killed

1871 Camp Grant Massacre: White and Mexican posse attack Apache village 140 killed, 40 sold into slavery

1872 Skelton Cave Massacre: US troops attack Yavapai’s living in a cave 76 killed

1877 Big Hole Massacre: US troops attack Nez Perce village 90 killed

1879 Fort Robinson Massacre: US troops kill Northern Cheyenne’s fleeing imprisonment 77 killed

1890 Stronghold Massacre: South Dakota militiamen attack village in Pine Ridge 75 killed

1890 Wounded Knee Massacre: US troops open fire on Lakota at Wounded Knee 300 killed

Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat their mistakes. Forgetting a nation’s violent past only serves to ensure it’s violent future.

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